Alpina’s New Sub-$1,000 Travel Watch Is Built for Adventure

Once upon a time, it felt like we were starved for reasonably-priced GMT watches, but today tons of watchmakers have filled in that blank space with quite the array of travel watches, both quartz and mechanical. Alpina has especially stepped up to the plate in this regard, and their recently-revealed Startimer Pilot Heritage GMT is one of the most captivating mechanical GMT’s at the low end of the price spectrum. Now, the Startimer is getting a stablemate in the form of the Seastrong Diver GMT.

Instead of mechanical guts like you’ll find in the new Startimer, the Seastrong GMT comes packing quartz. While that may seem like a concession to some, it will make for a much more hassle-free ownership experience in the long run, and it allows the watch to pack in more features for the money. Making up for the lack of a mechanical movement is a 300-meter depth rating, which makes the Seastrong not just an adept travel watch, but one that’s also beach and outdoor-ready.